256 Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 
attempting to make law, in the same way as a now passing school of 
binomialists has attempted to make binomialism law. Thinking system- 
atists are not likely to accept a rule governing the geographical range of 
a subspecies, if that is the intention of Grant’s expression, for the range 
must be defined only by the recognizability of the character on which 
the form is named. Herein Grant has taken advantage of the vagueness 
of the limits of the range of subspecies, to describe, retain or reject 
geographical races with a dogmatic bias that is neither scientific nor 
courteous. Doubtless Grant has his views as to what constitutes a genus, 
a species, or a subspecies ; but it does not follow that his opinion is that 
of the majority. An examination of some of his work, which I have been 
able to undertake seems to show that at times he has compromised between 
the system of the binomialists and that of the modern trinomialists, for 
while he rejects some subspecies, in other cases, such as in dealing with 
Meyer’s parrot, he has applied the finest degree of refinement in trinomial 
classification. Making due allowance for the variability or non-variability 
of species, a factor wdiich should never be lost sight of in classification, 
no system will stand which is not consistently applied, and herein we 
have had much to contend with in all works on African ornithology. It 
seems almost as though the enormous series in the National Collection, 
wdiere most of this work has been done, have been too large, for the exam- 
ination of details has been greatly neglected and workers seem not to have 
had time to go carefully through the whole series. 
In conclusion, I may state that any one is justified in correcting errors 
of judgment, which no human being can claim to be free from, and no 
unbiassed systematist will take offence thereat ; but such corrections 
must be backed by facts and not subjected to the feeling influence of 
association. Sufficient has been said to indicate the principles which 
have prompted the penning of this paper. 
New Records of Birds. 
Lieut. C. G. Davies, S.A. Mounted Riflemen, has recently kindly 
presented to the Transvaal Museum several specimens of birds collected 
at Otavifontein, Damaraland, during the recent military operations. These 
represent Chelicutia chclicuti (Stank), Vinago calva (Temm.), and 
Francolinus hartlaubi Boc. Special interest is attached to the two last 
species as they are newr to the South African avifauna. The specimen of 
Vinago calva has a very short bill, the hardened apical portion measuring 
only 10 -5 mm., and therefore shorter than Reich enow’s minimum 
measurements. In coloration it agrees with Reich enow’s description of 
V. calva nudirostris, which has been placed in the synonymy of V. calva 
calva by Grant and Bannerman (cf. Ibis , 1915, pp. 37 and 482). The 
specimens of Francolinus represent a £ and $. The former agrees with 
the description, except in having a somewhat longer wing ; spurs are not 
present, but represented by two hard knobs on each leg, and it may 
therefore not be fully adult. The $ agrees with Reichenow’s description 
of a young $ ; but Davies assures me that it was fully adult, and we may 
therefore conclude that Reichenow was in error in ascribing this plumage 
to the young $ only. Very little appears to be known of this bird. 
